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Never Lost, just Locationally Challenged

I sometimes wonder if, when things seem their most strange, and I am lost – in fact never lost, just locationally challenged (with my non-existent sense of direction) – painting is the only way to stay grounded on planet Earth, whichever part of it I happen to be standing on. People may have a very strong sense of Nationality; a pride in their homeland which makes up part of themselves; but if I am searching for an identity or sense of who I am it would not be there. I do not have a strong feeling of ‘Homeland’ ; I take very little pride in my nationality because and definitely feel that, and Ambrose Bierce so neatly put it:

“PATRIOT, n. One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.”
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

PATRIOTISM, n. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson’s famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first.”

As many people already say; we are citizens of the world…there is one Earth! So I hope to be an Internationalist, proud of this planet Earth; instead of a closed-minded nationalist who takes pride only in their country with its inherent set of ideals and views. And that means I have a huge amount to learn. It makes me sad to know that many of the endangered animals in this world may be extinct before I ever see them; and the same applies to their natural habitat. So perhaps the only way to experience them is by painting.

Maybe that’s the only way I can stay grounded on planet Earth.

Ocelot

‘Now attend to me,’ said Painted Jaguar, ‘because this is very important. My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him into the water and then he will uncoil, and when I meet a Tortoise I am to scoop him out of his shell with my paw. Now which of you is Hedgehog and which is Tortoise? because, to save my spots, I can’t tell!’” – Just So Stories

Humpback Whale

“What is this life if, full of care We have no time to stand and stare? No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.” – William Henry Davies

Grey Wolf

Zebra

Red fox cub

Red fox

Ocelot (jaguatirica)

Arctic fox

African wild dog

Bat

Lion

Gazelle

Blue-footed boobies (the birds), Galapagos Islands

“The strength of the wolf is the pack; The strength of the pack is the wolf.” – Rudyard Kipling

Gazelle

Cheetah

Kookaburra

Mackaw

Gazelle, Belle Pettigrew Museum, St Andrews

Tawny owl

Lynx (bobcat)

Jackal

African Wild Dog

Orangutan

Giraffe

Fruit bat

Hare

Duck-billed Platypus

…”I know a falcon swift and peerless As e’er was cradled In the pine; No bird had ever eye so fearless, Or wing so strong as this of mine.”

Jackal puppies playing

Giant tortoise, Galapagos Islands…”Growing old is inevitable; growing up is optional”

African Elephants

Tree Frog

…“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said,”you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived…” – Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Snowy owl

…“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said,”you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived…” – Jonathan Livingston Seagull